


83 Days

by shoutz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Pining, Questionable Astronomy, don't know what else to put here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 09:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12105939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoutz/pseuds/shoutz
Summary: A peek at Keith's journey to finding Shiro. Takes place between S2 and S3





	83 Days

“Day, uh… Day eighty-three.” Keith sighs, despondent. “I don’t know why I’m still counting.” The words emerge as a murmur low enough that Keith hopes they aren’t picked up by his helmet’s receiver. It’s a useless hope. Even if it did pick up, no one else listens to these logs anyways.

The Black Lion floats idly through space, carrying its new paladin to nowhere in particular. Together, they had already exhausted all the possible coordinates. Weeks ago, in fact. Of course their main objective is still to find him, but… Mostly, Keith spends his trips thinking far too hard.

“Eighty-three days…” Each one of them spent in the Black Lion searching desperately in each and every corner of the universe that might harbor their leader, or in the Castle, training harder than ever before and wondering if the Black Paladin — the real Black Paladin — is thinking about what he left behind. “…And I’m still not over you.”

Occasionally, he tries to forget. He locks himself away in his room, curled up on his bunk, or in the training deck with combat droids that rapidly increase in difficulty level. The rest have moved on, so Keith should as well. It’s logical. It’s what Shiro would want.

But then an old song sticks in his head, and his resolve is gone. Suddenly the entire Castle is stained with the memory, places where he left his trace before he disappeared. The impeccably tidy training hall, with racks of weapons neatly stacked. The hangar, where all the lions wait patiently for their paladins to begin a bonding session at the usually strictly regimented times. Even his room is as he left it: tidy, minimalistic, gathering a thin layer of dust. It’s the room where most of Shiro’s memory still remains, like ruins of a temple commemorating a forgotten deity.

Sometimes, it’s the only room where Keith can sleep.

“Allura called me back to the Castle. Again.” Joints pop and crack as his spine bends. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing his eyes with his palms. “It didn’t seem really urgent, but… She tries to lead, now that you’re gone and I...” His hands drop down from his face into his lap but he remains hunched over in Black's chair. “Nothing can take your place.”

Memories come back in waves that threaten to drown Keith. Looking back on his time in the Garrison has never been more clear, nor more nostalgic. The one time he was whole, the one time he was home. Keith could give all of himself and, in return, receive. It was simple. Naivety and youth kept Keith from spilling his guts, but by the time the news reports on the Kerberos mission failure started emerging, he knew nothing but grief and regret. Over that long, cold year, he came to realize that maybe Shiro was never his to keep.

But that was back when they had had plans. Just the two of them. _After Kerberos_ , he had said. _Will you wait for me?_

Of course the answer had been yes. How could he say no? They were going to buy a house. They were going to work at the Garrison together. They were going to have a dog and a cat, two best friends. Keith was going to empty his feelings out on the floor like a pile of laundry.

He shouldn’t have waited.

Even when he had returned, Keith felt the words seize up within him, frozen in fear that manifested as cold and unforgiving as ice. But at the same time, he couldn’t just let it go. It was a cruel battle that couldn’t be won, no matter how hard he tried.

“Just… don’t leave again, okay?” Keith remembers their last night on Earth like it was yesterday. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance had all been in the cabin to give the two of them some space. Sunrise barely crested over the horizon, bringing the night’s end. The longest night in Keith's living memory.

An easy smile graced his face, a welcoming sight that Keith had longed to see since that damn rocket disappeared into the clouds. “I’m here, Keith. With you,” and, looking back, Keith realizes that perhaps Shiro said too much when he promised, “Forever.”

Keith rights himself once again and studies the area in which Black had managed to find rest. A vast nebula sprawls ahead of him, fairly far away but breathtaking nonetheless. Blue swirls into green swirls into an aching bright purple, clouding ahead like a massive storm. It's something Shiro would marvel at, if he had been here to see it. The familiarity of the Black Lion makes him think he'll look over his shoulder and see him there, smiling, stars reflecting in his eyes... It's so beautiful that Keith wants to look away.

“Are you thinking of me?” Keith shatters the empty silence with a whisper, barely a breath in the vastness around him. “I… I still can’t seem to cut you loose, y'know.” A broken laugh emerges from somewhere deep inside him, more exhaustion than amusement or joy. “I could never get over you.”

And... It’s true. It’s more truth than anything Keith has said about Shiro before and it hurts that he can’t even be there to hear it. Tears start to blur his view of the nebula ahead of him, but he doesn’t really care that much. He's seen enough.

“I just want to know that you think of me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Because apparently I can only write fic inspired by music. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Short little bite-sized piece about my sweet boy Keith and his sweet boy Shiro.
> 
> Inspired by [83 Days - Wafia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__5Bwb5lsE).
> 
> Seek and ye shall find @ [shoutzwastaken.tumblr.com](http://shoutzwastaken.tumblr.com)


End file.
